Data transmission system with a mechanism enabling any application to run transparently over a network address translation device

ABSTRACT

Data transmission system based upon the Internet protocol (IP) comprising a private transmission network ( 18 ) and a public transmission network or the like ( 16 ) interconnected by a network address translation device NAT ( 12 ) wherein at least a workstation WS ( 10 ) connected to said private transmission network has to establish a communication with a peer device ( 14 ) connected to the public transmission network, the local IP address of each data packet from the workstation WS being translated into a NAT address used to provide the route through the public transmission network. The system includes a registration server ( 19 ) connected to the public transmission network for registering the local IP address corresponding to the NAT address and providing the correspondence between the NAT address and the local IP address to the peer device in order for this one to replace in the IP header of each data packet received by the peer device, the NAT address by the local IP address.

TECHNICAL FIELD

[0001] The invention relates generally to the IP network environment between a workstation connected to a private network and a peer device connected to a public network wherein the two networks are interconnected by a network address translation device and relates particularly to a data transmission system comprising a mechanism enabling any application to run transparently over a network translation device.

BACKGROUND

[0002] In a system wherein a workstation connected to a private network based on the Internet protocol (IP) wants to communicate with a peer device connected to a public network also based on the IP protocol, a network address translation (NAT) or a network port address translation (NPAT) when several ports are used, is implemented at the network boundary to change the IP address and possibly the port value of each data packet.

[0003] But some applications are not compatible with the NAT function. Thus, in secure VPN using IPsec for example, the Security Association (SA), which is the method for creating a secure link, is established between the two end-points that will need a secure IPsec tunnel between them. These end points are not necessarily in the same network and devices in between such as firewalls or gateways use the NAT on the local IP address in order to provide routability. Once “NATed”, the SA or IPsec packets may not be recognized by the other end as the packets may contain the original IP address, may include a signature including the original IP address or may not have the valid port number.

[0004] Other protocols such as FTP, IRC, SNMP, LDAP (Internet Engineering Task Force protocols) or H.323 (International Telecommunication Union protocol) are also totally or partially incompatible with the NAT mechanism insofar as the source IP address of the header is different from the address transported with the data payload. It is so with the protocol H.323 used for transporting voice over IP (VOIP) where a proxy function is often required in the gateways.

[0005] NAT was originally developed as a short-term measure to combat Ipv4 address exhaustion. However, widespread implementation and lengthy migration to Ipv6 have made it impossible for IPsec vendors to ignore NAT. Cisco, CheckPoint, F-Secure, Microsoft, and SSH Communications are among those vendors working to enable IPsec NAT traversal.

[0006] The Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) has been working protocol by protocol to find solutions. But these are generally difficult to implement and do not solve all the cases. NAT traversal standard is one IETF example but a few problems still remain.

[0007] When the NAT or NPAT device in the middle is not under control, no special mechanism can be implemented to allow pass-through for the various protocols having problems with NAT/NPAT. Only encapsulation of all the related flow over a dedicated encapsulation mechanism (generally based on UDP) between end peers may be used. This adds complexity and overhead and implies generally a change on the application or system.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0008] Accordingly, the main object of the present invention is to provide a data transmission system providing a seamless and generic mechanism for enabling the applications not compatible with the network address translation (NAT) or the network port address translation (NPAT) function to run transparently without adding any overhead and without limiting the performance.

[0009] The invention relates therefore to a data transmission system based upon the Internet protocol (IP) comprising a private transmission network and a public transmission network or the like interconnected by a network address translation device NAT wherein at least a workstation WS connected to the private transmission network has to establish a communication with a peer device connected to the public transmission network, the local IP address of each data packet from the workstation WS being translated into a NAT address used to provide the routability through the public transmission network. The system includes a registration server connected to the public transmission network for registering the local IP address corresponding to the NAT address and providing the correspondence between the NAT address and the local IP address to the peer device in order for this one to replace the NAT address by the local IP address in the IP header of each data packet received by the peer device.

[0010] According to another aspect, the invention relates to a method for enabling any application to run transparently in the above data transmission system, the method comprising the steps of

[0011] registering (REG) in a registration server the local IP address corresponding to any NAT address,

[0012] requesting from the peer device (REQUEST) to the registration server the local IP address corresponding to any unknown NAT address of a received data packet,

[0013] getting back, in the peer device, the local IP address from the registration server, and

[0014] replacing, in the peer device, the NAT address of a received data packet with the local IP address.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0015] The above and other objects, features and advantages of the invention will be better understood by reading the following more particular description of the invention in conjunction with the accompanying drawings wherein:

[0016]FIG. 1 is a schematic representation of a data transmission system according to the invention,

[0017]FIG. 2 is a representation of an embodiment of the invention wherein the invention is implemented with an IPsec tunnel,

[0018]FIG. 3 is a representation of an embodiment of the invention wherein the invention is implemented with the use of an IPsec tunnel within a server application,

[0019]FIG. 4 is a representation of an embodiment of the invention wherein the invention is implemented with the voice over IP protocol,

[0020]FIG. 5 represents an alternative of an embodiment of the invention illustrated in FIG. 4,

[0021]FIG. 6 is a representation of an embodiment of the invention including two NAT devices,

[0022]FIGS. 7A and 7B represent respectively the flow chart of the request process and the flow chart of the activate process achieved in the registration server for the implementation of the invention, and

[0023]FIGS. 8A and 8B show the contents of the packet modified through the NAT device and the proxy when it is transmitted from the workstation to the peer device and reciprocally.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0024] In reference to FIG. 1, a data transmission system wherein the invention can be implemented includes a first private network NET1 18 to which is connected a workstation 10 and a second network NET2 16 which is generally a public network such as the Internet network or the like to which is connected a hub 14. Assuming that workstation 10 needs to establish a communication with hub 14, it is necessary that the two networks are interconnected by a network address translation (NAT) 12 which performs just the address translation if a dedicated NET2 address can be assigned to workstation 10 for all communications with NET2 devices or by a network port address translation (NPAT) when a NET2 address is shared by more than one device located on NET1 18, such as for example several workstations like workstation 10.

[0025] Some applications or tunneling protocols cannot work in the model of FIG. 1. Thus, with an IPsec tunnel as illustrated in FIG. 2, it is judicious to use a registration server 19 connected to NET2 16 as described hereafter. The IPsec tunnel is established between workstation 10 and hub 14 with a NAT device 12 between private network 18 and NET2 16 for performing at least address translation. It may be the case of a user in a hotel joining its Intranet network. Note that hub 14 includes a proxy P, the function of which will be described later.

[0026] According to a first aspect of the invention, only a NAT mechanism is implemented. First of all, in a registration step (REG), the local IP address and the NAT address (WAN address) are stored together with the user identification in the registration server 19. There are several ways for the workstation to get the value of the registered IP address assigned by NAT device 12. A first way is to use a web browser contacting a web server on NET2 16 having this function to provide the source IP address detected (there are several such servers on the Internet). According to a second way, registration server 19 can itself detect the source IP address value in the IP header of the REG message transmitted from workstation 10 to registration server 19, except if another NAT device is located between NAT device 12 and registration server 19. The first way is preferable insofar as, in the second way of doing, it is necessary to analyze the IP header of the REG message.

[0027] Regularly, the registration (REG message) should be performed to indicate the presence of workstation 10 with its local IP address (LAN address). When dynamic IP addresses are used, workstation 10 detects a change and sends a new REG message so that, in such a case, the new registration cancels the previous one. This refreshed validation of presence is performed by LOOKUP messages between the workstation and the registration server 19 enabling workstation 10 to start connections upon an activation request from the hub through the registration server as described later.

[0028] The Security Association (SA) which is the procedure to establish the IPsec tunnel is started from the workstation. Upon detection of an unknown IP source address, hub 14 sends a request (REQUEST) to the registration server 19 looking for the registered address equal to this IP source address of the packet. The registration server authenticates the request and the hub gets back (GET) the necessary information such as the identification and the local address of the user. This enables going further with the SA and starting an IPsec exchange of data between the workstation 10 and the hub 14.

[0029] In the hub 14, the proxy replaces the source IP address in the header of the received packet by the local IP address which was used in NET1 18, so that the IPsec process sees the packets as if the hub was connected to the network NET1.

[0030] An additional mechanism enables starting the SA and IPsec tunnel from the hub when needed. But the problem to solve is that the hub does not know the workstation address. Assuming that there is a stateful firewall in the NAT device which prevents flows from starting from the hub side, the IPsec process should start from the workstation side. In order to solve the problem, the hub asks the workstation to start the SA through an activation request (ACTIVATE) posted into the registration server 19. The workstation, when connected permanently, polls the registration server (LOOKUP) so that it detects such a request and can start the session from its side. An alternate is to forward the ACTIVATE message to the workstation if this one is authorized, which is not often the case when IPsec is active but can be added by a modification of the protocol itself. Note that the need to start again the IPsec session occurs very often insofar as each side, workstation or hub, cuts the session and establishes it again regularly based upon timers.

[0031] According to a second aspect, the invention can be implemented when there is a port and address translation (NPAT) being implemented. The first registration step REG is the same as in the above, but a timestamp is set in registration server 19 each time a registration is performed. In fact, a new registration is performed each time a new flow starts from the workstation to the hub. This new flow is characterized by a new port number being used. The port numbers corresponding respectively to the LAN port number and to the WAN port number are transmitted in the REG message and stored by the registration server. For each new flow, the registration server 19 stores the source IP address (WAN address), the source port number (WAN port) and the timestamp further to the corresponding local IP address (LAN address) and the LAN port number. When the hub 14 receives a new flow from NAT device 12, it first sets up a timestamp and then sends the REQUEST message to the registration server and gets back a GET message from the latter corresponding to the most recent or closest timestamps, so that it can correlate to which flow the received packet belongs to by comparing the timestamps. Note that a payload hash value may also be added to the REG message. In such a case, this hash value is a further means for insuring that the packet being analyzed is really the same. Using only the hash field without the timestamp is also possible.

[0032] Finally, the proxy included in the hub replaces the source IP address (WAN address) and the source port number (WAN port) by, respectively, the local IP address (LAN address) and the local port number (LAN Port). It must be noted that the procedure using the ACTIVATE request sent by the hub to the registration server and the regular polling by a LOOKUP message from the workstation to the registration server is used in the same way as in the first case wherein there is no port number to be translated.

[0033] In reference to FIG. 3, the invention can also be implemented when a tunnel such as an IPsec tunnel is used as a transport means for an application having a compatibility problem with NAT. In this case, the hub 14 which is the peer device at the end of the IPsec tunnel is connected to a LAN 11. The communication is established between the workstation 10 and a server 31 connected to the LAN 11. Such an architecture is used when the application server 31 cannot be modified to include a proxy. This is the case when the server 31 is a not-modifiable voice server and the application is based on the H.323 protocol. Furthermore, the advantage of this implementation is that the proxy included in the hub is used for all applications instead of being implemented in each server. However, there is a first constraint insofar as the network 18 (NET1) must be recognized on the LAN 11 in order for packets having NETI addresses to be correctly routed. This means that hub 14 presents these addresses on local network 11 as if they were their own addresses. Another constraint on the workstation 10 is to show the tunnel as being a valid logical interface even if it is virtual for the operating system and associated applications so that the applications use the tunnel IP address as the local IP address.

[0034] The solution illustrated in FIG. 3 enables bypassing the above problem since a tunnel is implemented between WS 10 and hub 14. The Intranet addresses (like addresses from LAN 11) which are the addresses shown by a virtual interface on WS 10 will be used by applications such as VoIP as source addresses. Since the virtual interface is always tunneled, a second source address belonging to NET1 is applied on any outgoing packet.

[0035] Finally, since the function is to hide the NAT or NPAT function, the application sees really a communication with a local device on the same network providing full transparency for all applications.

[0036] The way the system illustrated in FIG. 3 works is very similar to what is described in FIG. 2 since the tunnel between hub 14 and workstation WS 10 can be an IPsec tunnel or any type of tunnel. The tunneling is required to access a device such as the hub 14 that can perform the address and port swapping at the Intranet side.

[0037] Therefore, a packet contains the following fields: a tunnel IP header (NET1 address range), a tunnel header (e.g., IPsec AH or ESP as defined by the IETF), an Inner IP header (used by the application) and the data payload. Arriving at the hub, the tunnel IP header and the tunnel header are removed. The inner IP header is recognized on Local LAN 11 as a hub internal address.

[0038] Referring to FIG. 4, another case where the protocol used for the application is not compatible with the NAT function is the case of the H.323 protocol being used for transporting voice over IP. A similar mechanism as the one used in the two preceding embodiments applies to this case, with the procedure CALL SETUP instead of SA for IPsec tunnel and a voice server VS 32 instead of the Hub 14. But the ACTIVATE and LOOKUP procedures are not used here inasmuch as no reconnection has to be performed as in the IPsec tunnel. When a communication is ended, the connection can be disconnected from any side and then re-established from the user side. The ACTIVATE and LOOKUP procedures would be necessary, for example, in case of a stateful firewall preventing a call from being started from the voice server side.

[0039]FIG. 5 illustrates the same application using the H.323 protocol as FIG. 4, but with an independent proxy 49 connected to a voice server VS 48. When a proxy is not integrated in the device running the final application as is the case in FIG. 5, the source address for the incoming traffic corresponding to the destination for the outgoing traffic has to be determined in order for this outgoing traffic to be routed to the device running the proxy. This can be done by applying known routing methods such as using predefined subnets for the IP addresses which are given to WS 10. Another method is to use the proxy 49 as the default destination route for all unknown traffic using private addresses not belonging to Intranet. An alternate method when the routing cannot be modified is to build logical tunnels between the proxy 49 and the server 48 such as an IPsec, L2TP (Layer 2 Tunneling Protocol) or GRE (Generic Routing Encapsulation) tunnel. Such a tunnel will force the encapsulated traffic to go back from the server to the proxy.

[0040]FIG. 6 shows a system wherein another NAT2 device 42 is used at the other end of the network. In this case, the two sides have to register the correspondence between the original address and the NAT address and each peer device must include a proxy to swap the incoming and outgoing IP header fields for the applications requiring this mechanism, such as the H.323 protocol.

[0041] Before any communication if only the network address translation is implemented (NAT) or for each flow if network address and port translation (NPAT) is implemented, workstation 10 sends a message WS REG to the registration server 19 for registering the correspondence between the local workstation IP address of the workstation and the NAT address, and server VS 48 sends a message REG to the registration server 19 for registering the correspondence between the server IP address and the NAT2 address.

[0042] Assuming that workstation 10 wants to establish a communication with server 48, it has first to send a WS REQUEST to the registration server 19 to receive a GET message including the NAT2 address corresponding to the final address (the server IP address) because no route is defined for this final address. When the packet is received by the server, the proxy included therein has to perform two changes in the IP header and not only one change as defined in the previous embodiments where only one NAT device was present. It has to replace the NAT1 address by the workstation IP address it has obtained by a VS REQUEST and VS GET procedure as explained previously and to replace the NAT2 address by the server IP address which is the address of the server 48 registered on the network (WAN).

[0043] A similar procedure as above is applied when a packet is received from the server 48 by the workstation 10. First, the server 48 has to use the VS REQUEST and VS GET procedure with the registration server in order for the proxy to replace the destination address which is the workstation IP address by the NAT1 address. When the packet is received by the workstation 10, the proxy included therein has to use the WS REQUEST and WS GET procedure in order to replace in the IP header of the received packet the NAT2 address by the local source address that is the server IP address and to replace the NAT1 address by the workstation IP address.

[0044] As illustrated in FIGS. 7A and 7B, the steps implemented after the registration procedure REG in the registration server are the REQUEST message from the hub (step 50) and then the determination whether the address of a received packet and optionally the port number have been registered in the registration server (step 52). If not, the request is rejected (step 54). If the address has been registered, all available fields are put in an answering message GET and sent back to the requester (step 56).

[0045] As illustrated in FIG. 7B, the ACTIVATE process in the registration server starts when the hub in case of IPsec or the voice server in case of H.323 protocol sends a message to the registration server. This message indicates that this device (hub or server) wants the remote peer device to restart a call or connection. The request is processed and it is determined whether the address of the received message has been registered (step 53). If not, the ACTIVATE request is rejected (step 55). If the address is found, a message is prepared with the ACTIVATE information (step 57) and the registration server waits for the next LOOKUP from the workstation to send the prepared message (step 59).

[0046] In reference to FIGS. 8A and 8B, the process of swapping according to the invention is similar for any application. FIG. 8A illustrates the transmission from the workstation (WS) to the voice server or the hub (VS/H). A packet (60) sent by WS contains the data payload from the application with some upper layer protocols with an IP header containing a source address being the local workstation address on the LAN and a destination address being the hub or the server on the Intranet side. The path of the flow 68 starts on WS, goes through the NAT device wherein the local source IP address is replaced by a NAT address which is the IP address registered on the WAN (62). When the packet is then received by the proxy, this one gets the destination IP address from the registration server and replaces the WAN address by the local destination IP address or LAN address (64) received from the registration server.

[0047] The process of swapping when a packet is sent from the hub or the voice server (VS/H) to the workstation as illustrated in FIG. 8B is the reciprocal of the process illustrated in FIG. 8A. A packet (61) sent by VS/H contains the data payload with the upper layer protocols including a destination address being the local workstation address on the LAN and a source address being the hub or the server on the Intranet side. The path of the flow 69 starts on VS/H and goes through the proxy device wherein the local source address of the workstation is replaced by a NAT address which is the IP address registered on the WAN (63). When the packet is then received by the NAT device, this one changes the NAT address into the workstation address which is the address received from the registration server by using the REQUEST and GET procedure (65).

[0048] While this invention has been described in a preferred embodiment, other embodiments and variations can be effected by a person of ordinary skill in the art without departing from the scope of the invention. 

1-19 (Canceled)
 20. A data transmission system operating with the Internet protocol (IP) comprising: a workstation a peer device; a private transmission network; a network address translation device (NAT); a public transmission network interconnected by the NAT to the private transmission network, wherein the workstation connected to the private transmission network is operative for communicating the peer device, the peer device connected to the public transmission network, the local IP address of each data packet from the workstation is translated into a NAT address used to provide the routing through the public transmission network; and a registration server connected to the public transmission network for registering a local IP addresses corresponding to a NAT address and for providing the correspondence between the NAT address and the local IP address to the peer device in order to replace the NAT address with the local IP address in an IP header of each data packet received by the peer device,.
 21. The data transmission system of claim 20, wherein the NAT address is shared by more than one workstation, the workstations are connected to different ports sharing the same address, and wherein the network address translation device further includes a means for providing port number translation.
 22. The data transmission system of claim 21, wherein the peer device comprises a proxy for replacing in the IP header of each received data packet, the NAT address with the corresponding local IP address.
 23. The data transmission system of claim 22, wherein the peer device is a hub and wherein an IPsec tunnel is established between the workstation and the hub.
 24. The data transmission system of claim 22, wherein the peer device is connected to a server by means of a local network, a connection being established between the workstation and the server by an application.
 25. The data transmission system of claim 24, wherein a tunnel is established between the workstation and the peer device.
 26. The data transmission system of claim 25, wherein the tunnel established between the workstation and the peer device is an IPsec tunnel.
 27. The data transmission system according to claim 22, wherein the peer device is a voice server and a voice connection using H.323 protocol is established between the workstation and the voice server.
 28. The data transmission system of claim 22, wherein the peer device is a proxy and is connected to a voice server by means of a local network and a voice connection using H.323 protocol is established between the workstation and the voice server.
 29. The data transmission system of claim 21, wherein the peer device is an end server comprising a proxy connected to the public transmission network by means of a local network, the local network being connected to the private transmission network by a network address translation device.
 30. The data transmission system of claim 29, wherein the registration server is adapted for registering the local IP address of the end server corresponding to the network address resulting from the translation of the server local IP address by the address of the network address translation device and for providing to the end server the correspondence between the network address translation device address and the server local IP address.
 31. The data transmission system of claim 30, wherein the end server is a voice server and a voice connection using H.323 protocol is established between the workstation and the voice server.
 32. A method of enabling an application to run transparently in a data transmission system operating with the Internet protocol (IP) comprising a public transmission network, a public network, a workstation, interconnected by a network address translation device (NAT) to the private transmission network, wherein the workstation connected to the private transmission network is operative for communicating the peer device, the peer device connected to the public transmission network, the local IP address of each data packet from the workstation is translated into a NAT address used to provide the routing through the public transmission network, the method comprising the steps of: registering (REG) in a registration server the local IP address corresponding to the NAT address, requesting from the peer device to the registration server, the local IP address corresponding to an unknown NAT address of a received data packet, receiving at the peer device, the local IP address from the registration server; and replacing in the peer device, the NAT address of a received data packet with a local IP address.
 33. The method of claim 32, wherein when a plurality of workstations establish a communication with the peer device, a local port number is assigned to the workstation and the NAT is used to translate both the local IP address and the local port number of the workstations into a corresponding NAT address and a NAT Port number; the method further comprising the steps of: registering in the registration server the local IP address and the local port number corresponding to a NAT address and a NPAT Port number; requesting from the peer device through the registration server, the local IP address and the local port number corresponding to a NAT address and a NPAT port number of a received data packet; receiving in at the peer device, the local IP address and local port number from the registration server; and replacing in the peer device, the NAT address and NAT port number of a received packet by with a corresponding local IP address and a local port number.
 34. The method according to claim 33, wherein an IPsec tunnel is established between the workstation and the peer device, the method further comprising the steps of: sending from the peer device to the registration server an activation request to the workstation to start a session through the IPsec tunnel, and polling regularly the registration server the workstation for detecting the activation request and start of a IPsec session.
 35. The method according to claim 33, wherein the public transmission network is connected to the peer device by means of a second network address translation device, the method further comprising the step of registering in the registration server, the local IP address of the peer device corresponding to the address resulting from the translation of the local IP address of the peer device by the second network address translation device.
 36. The method according to claim 35, further comprising the following steps when a data packet is transmitted from the peer device to the workstation, the steps comprising: requesting from the workstation through the registration server, the peer device local IP address corresponding to an unknown second network address translation device address; receiving at the workstation, the peer device local IP address;, and replacing in the workstation the second network address translation device address of the received packet by the peer device local IP address.
 37. The method of claim 33, wherein the peer device is a voice server and a voice connection using H.323 protocol is established between the workstation and the voice server.
 38. The method according to claim 37, wherein the peer device is a voice server and a voice connection using H.323 protocol is established between the workstation and the voice server. 